That would be convenient. But unless that's done for all sports, then AST pretty much becomes "Aggie Football Talk" in all but name.

I don’t know what the tiebreakers are, but assuming we beat Irvine, that’s only a split of the season series, and Irvine would still have a better overall record. However, we swept the series vs. UCSD, and we would have the better record. But for that to happen, UCSD has to lose a game this week and we have to beat both Long Beach and UCI.

We've struggled all year against physical, aggressive teams. Actually, the Aggie WBB seems to struggle with physicality from opponents almost every year - some years more than others. Gross seems to prefer players who are more finesse style players, which may be more suited to the Princeton offense.

Defensively, it seems from the stands that the staff emphasizes positioning, helping, and not making stupid fouls - all of which is good. And especially when you have a short, inexperienced bench, like this season. Can't afford to have starters sitting extra time because of fouls. But the flip side is that our players aren't practicing against physicality, so they aren't used to it.

Can't argue with her track record, but it might help to have 1 - 2 players who relish contact and play through it. I was hoping that Tegan Young might be that player this year.

I stand corrected; and apologies to SochorField for falsely attributing his comment to you. :worry:

Note: I was being facetious. :smile:

"Economic impact" refers to the net changes in economic activity within a region resulting from some action or project. In hindsight it may be measurable to some degree if confounding variables can be accounted for...something almost impossible to do in the real world.

A projection of economic impact is basically a "wild-eyed guess" ( voodoo economics term approved by the noted economist George H. W. Bush who originated the Voodoo Economics Field) intended to convince the dumb schmucks footing the bill for the project that they would actually reap enormous financial benefit that would more than compensate them for their increased taxation.

You are correct that it does sound lucrative, and anyone who passed up such an opportunity would be foolish.

Plough doesn’t seem like a guy who’d settle for “coasting,”

Currently, College Sports Madness has Irvine as the Big West AQ as a #4 vs. Oklahoma, Autumn Johnson (NCAA site) has UCSD #4 vs. Kentucky, and Charlie Creme has UCSD as a play-in #16 vs, Cal Baptist (as a reward, the winner gets to play UCLA).

Maybe if it's Northwestern, a founding member of the conference, it's difficult to envision leaving, even if you seldom do well. But Rutgers left the Big East, believing that joining the Big 10 would be "better." If the reality is being one of the conference punching bags, that's not better.

Somebody once said that doing the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result is insanity. Unfortunately, Indiana's recent football success is making every Big 10 punching bag think, "Why not us?" So the insanity will continue.

Hopefully, UCD moving to the MW will work out better than moving to the Big 10 has worked for Rutgers, Syracuse, Maryland, etc.

That definitely makes it easier to get to the Big Dance, but winning the regular season championship guarantees that a team makes the post season:

Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament
"The regular-season champion of any NCAA Division I conference (as determined by the
conference’s tie-break protocol) not otherwise selected to the NCAA Division I Women’s
Basketball Championship will secure an automatic qualification to the Women’s Basketball
Invitation Tournament."

https://www.ncaa.com/championships/basketball-women/wbit

Women's NIT
Automatic Berths - one berth from each of the nation's 31 conferences. A team that is offered
an automatic berth by the WNIT shall be the team that is the highest-finishing team in the
conference's regular-season standings – and is not selected for the NCAA Tournament or the WBIT.

https://www.womensnit.com

March Madness is obviously preferable, but having the WBIT/WNIT already in hand means a school is playing with house money. And the chances of making a run are certainly higher in the WBIT or WNIT. UCD has never made it beyond the opening game of the NCAA Tournament, while we've twice been 3rd round or better in the WNIT (back when it was the second best option. Unfortunately, the election criteria for the WNIT, is a little dicey. Being 2nd or 3rd in the conference isn't a lock; as I read it, the WNIT committee has a weasel out option, especially if there's an upset in the conference tournament. Like if Hawaii or UCSB pulled it off.

Not sure what's better - 1 and done in the Big Dance vs. 2 or more games in one of the other tournaments? If the 1st game in the NCAA is a blowout, I'd say a win or two in one of the others is preferable.

I'd like to think so, but if those commenting on the Rutgers article are typical of that fan base, I'm not too optimistic. There seems to be a mindset that no amount of debt justifies rethinking Rutgers being in the Big 10.

The current perception seems to be that colleges and universities exist in order to field football and basketball (primarily men's) teams. Education seems secondary to most fans anymore. How often do university presidents get in the news about something other than athletics? Even the governor of Louisiana got involved in the Brian Kelly - Lane Kiffin mess. His involvement forced the AD at LSU out...so the well-being of an entire state is now dependent on getting the right football coach?

As my Boston-Irish grandmother would have said, "Jesus wept!" (her ultimate go-to when exasperated or angry).

Looking at the comments, one would think the posters took a "spin-the-narrative" course from Dr. Luke Wood. No wonder so many American households carry staggering amounts of debt.

UCI 70 - UCSD 68. Aggie WBB controls their own destiny. Win out and UCD grabs at least a share of the Big West regular season championship!!

Starts with a huge game at Hawaii on Thursday. Always a really tough place to win.

GO AGS!!!

It was definitely the Ryann and Avery show today. Also encouraging is how much better Sussex (AKA as “Essex” to announcer Bob Kerr) is on defense. Doubt she’ll ever be in Bennett’s class, but she’s really improved.
Tegan Young has also been playing with more confidence the last few games.

Norris should've been at the line all night. 2-3 players trying to push her off the boards every shot. Wish Tegan Young had the confidence to finish...especially the 1-1 where she had the lane but threw away a behind the back instead...Bennett got us going again to start the 4th. Sussex has quick hands on defense.
Gritty win.

I agree that Cal and Stanford haven’t been particularly revant lately.

What is spectacular athletically, especially about Stanford is the donor support. For example, the head women’s basketball coach, as well as 4 of the 5 assistant coach positions are endowed positions, which means that position is funded in perpetuity. Costs the university/athletic department nothing. The head FB coach and 2 assistants as well. More in other sports. And few of those funding the various endowments have names that I associate with Stanford athletics.

That’s financial resources on a scale far beyond anything UCD can hope to compete with now, or in any foreseeable future. Not even the TOP Big10 or SEC schools have that. I don’t think Stanford has scratched the surface of what they could do. I expect that Andrew Luck will be a far more active and effective presence than Shaq has been. So I’d hesitate to be dismissive of the potential there.

Oops,

The actual term was “no conference disbursements“. To me that would include $0 from any NCAA distribution for the performance of a MAC team in March Madness. Conceivably, the CSUS men’s or women’s team could make the tournament and win a game or two (admittedly unlikely), earning a distribution for the conference, and Sac wouldn’t receive a dime.

Yeah, I don’t think the MO is going to change.

“ If they had a plan, we’d know. ”

Like we knew ahead of time about the move to the Mountain West?

I think Plough signing the extension is very much like Polasek signing his. It keeps a crucial asset in place to make the move up. That's not a move I would want to make without a coach of my choice running the program.

And, "...Allow the university to plan for that move once they have moved all other sports into the conference later this year."

Actually playing in the MW for other sports for a year. experiencing that environment and seeing how we do in football next year or maybe 2, will be a better time for a definitive announcement? From an AD perspective.